Rachel Biderman

Bio

Rachel is the WRI Brasil Country Director.

Rachel has a PhD degree in Public Administration from Fundação Getulio Vargas, São Paulo, Brasil (2011), holds two masters degrees: Environmental Sciences (MSc), University of São Paulo (1999) and International Legal Studies, American University Washington College of Law, D.C. (1992). Rachel has a Law Degree from University of São Paulo (1990). She was fellow at the Science, Technology and Society Program at the Harvard JFK School of Government, Fall, 2009. She is the creator and coordinator of the course on "Low Carbon Management" at the Extension School of Fundação Getulio Vargas (as of 2010) and was a professor at FGV School of Business Administration on the Management of Sustainability (2006-2011).

Rachel has concentrated her academic and professional work in the fields of corporate sustainability, climate change, sustainable consumption, public policies and sustainability and international and Brazilian environmental law.

Blog Posts

The Brazilian government announced an unforeseen increase in deforestation last week -- a 29 percent rise in 2016 compared to the previous year -- at a time when the nation has been seeking to eliminate deforestation in the Amazon as part of its plan to curb climate change, conserve biodiversity and protect indigenous rights.

Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil's sixth-largest state and a major agricultural producer, recently committed to go carbon-neutral. The initiative will help the country meet its national and international goals to reduce its overall emissions 37 percent below 2005 levels by 2025.

This week Brazil formally submitted its climate plan, also known as its Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC). The country’s INDC comes on the heels of joint climate change declarations it’s made in recent months with China, Germany and the United States, showing that the country is committed to a creating a successful international climate agreement in Paris later this year.

The joint statement goes beyond research and development and embraces an unprecedented accord on climate targets, where both countries committed to increase their share of renewables by 20 percent by 2030.

Brazilian cities and municipalities vary in the status of their efforts to collect GHG data and conduct emissions inventories. The event focused on emissions management efforts so far. Below are six lessons highlighted by participants in the discussion:

1. Strong political commitment is crucial for success. Many cities in Brazil have made strong political commitments to address climate change. For example, Rio and Belo Horizonte have created municipal climate change laws with mandatory GHG reduction targets. Rio’s target is to reduce emissions by 20 percent below 2005 levels by 2020, while Belo Horizonte’s is 20 percent by 2030. In both cases, city-wide GHG inventories have been conducted to inform and track performance toward these targets.

2. The inventory is the first step in low-carbon development. Participants stressed the importance of the GHG inventory process (see figure below) as a planning tool to help cities assess their emissions, identify emission sources, set reduction targets, prioritize mitigation actions, and track performance. For instance, Belo Horizonte’s inventory found that the transportation sector is the city’s major source of GHG emissions (71 percent); this information will help the city identify reduction measures. Prof. Jose Goldemberg, former federal Minister and São Paulo State Secretary of Environment, stressed that GHG inventories help cities identify key emission sources and implement low-carbon technologies. Nelson Moreira Franco, Director for Climate Change Management and Sustainable Development for the City of Rio, stressed that the “GHG inventory is a powerful instrument to manage emissions and influence policy-making.”